inspirations & ideas from the west coast

Lots of chocolates

Wednesday night we had a little getaway to the quaint little village of Chemainus to see My Fair Lady at the theatre. Talk about ‘loverly’! This was only my second visit to the theatre festival there but both times it has been well worth the drive at only an hour and twenty minutes from Victoria.

A few months ago I saw Enchanted April with a couple of enchanting girlfriends and it was a delightful afternoon. (Rent the movie if you want to capture some of the same essence of a girls-escape-to-villa-in-Italy life. You won’t regret it!) This time as well, the cast and crew of My Fair Lady put on a great show, and all the old favourite songs from Lerner and Loewe came out to play. The leads playing Eliza and Henry did a great job, despite the fact that Eliza’s singing voice was still a little nasal even after she dropped that low-class accent. Aaaww … right to the centre of the ear, that sound went.

While the performance was very good, there were some odd moments that punctuated the evening, like the not-so-silent passing of gas that reverberated from someone in the lobby area while milling about before the show. (With the theatre crowd usually averaging the over 70-set, I suppose that’s about par for the course!) There were also the staccato taps of clapping at just the wrong moments during the performance by some overeager patron. Don’t even get me started on the ‘clapping in unison’ from the audience that happened during the bows. And why oh why must the crowd give a standing ovation at each and every theatre, symphony, ballet, opera, you-name-it-as-long-as-someone’s-on-the-stage event? People! We’ve lost the meaning of the standing ovation!

OK, snarkiness over. It was a really good show. If you live anywhere in the vicinity (which most of you don’t!), check it out! Though plopped down in a tiny town, Chemainus’ professional theatre packs a punch and it was a nice evening. If only now I could get the musical phrase, “lots of chocolates for me to eat…” out of my head!